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:( hi my name is kathy, i am pretty new to photography, i have had some good shots and bad. i have just come back from london for a couple of days and reveiwed my pictures. some of them are ok but the night time ones have come out all blurry and i dont know why. i had the setting on landscape majority of the time. please can someone explain what i have done wrong.

hi my name is kathy, i am pretty new to photography, i have had some good shots and bad. i have just come back from london for a couple of days and reveiwed my pictures. some of them are ok but the night time ones have come out all blurry and i dont know why. i had the setting on landscape majority of the time. please can someone explain what i have done wrong.

Your camera should have a NIGHT mode, try using that. Or if it has an "A" mode (Aperture Priority), use that and set the aperture to the smallest number (might be something like f1.4 or f2 or f2.8), that'll give you the highest possible shutter speed which will help eliminate camera shake. If your camera has an anti-shake or stability feature, turn it on. You can also up the ISO to maybe 400 or even 800 (if you don't mind some noise grain). But as justin c says, use a tripod for best results.
Perhaps even if you set your camera to full auto, it may well recognise a night scene when it sees it. Putting your camera into LANDSCAPE is forcing it to use a smaller aperture, as that gives the best depth of field. If you do that in low light, you will be using a really slow shutter speed and your pictures will end up a blurry mess if you shoot handheld. If you don't have a tripod, try resting your camera or your hands/arms/elbows on a solid surface like a wall, fence etc, that will help. If you can rest the camera on a solid surface, use the timer function so you don't have to hold or touch the camera to take the picture. That'll eliminate shake altogether.
Always select the appropriate scene yourself if your camera doesn't select the right one for you. Deliberately selecting an inappropriate scene will almost always disappoint.
I would also recommend reading a book on basic photography so you know why your pictures don't come out right.
Out of interest though, why didn't you review your shots as you took them rather than waiting until you got home? You could have corrected yourself a lot sooner. :)

Your camera should have a NIGHT mode, try using that. Or if it has an "A" mode (Aperture Priority), use that and set the aperture to the smallest number (might be something like f1.4 or f2 or f2.8), that'll give you the highest possible shutter speed which will help eliminate camera shake. If your camera has an anti-shake or stability feature, turn it on. You can also up the ISO to maybe 400 or even 800 (if you don't mind some noise grain). But as justin c says, use a tripod for best results.

Perhaps even if you set your camera to full auto, it may well recognise a night scene when it sees it. Putting your camera into LANDSCAPE is forcing it to use a smaller aperture, as that gives the best depth of field. If you do that in low light, you will be using a really slow shutter speed and your pictures will end up a blurry mess if you shoot handheld. If you don't have a tripod, try resting your camera or your hands/arms/elbows on a solid surface like a wall, fence etc, that will help. If you can rest the camera on a solid surface, use the timer function so you don't have to hold or touch the camera to take the picture. That'll eliminate shake altogether.

Always select the appropriate scene yourself if your camera doesn't select the right one for you. Deliberately selecting an inappropriate scene will almost always disappoint.

I would also recommend reading a book on basic photography so you know why your pictures don't come out right.

Out of interest though, why didn't you review your shots as you took them rather than waiting until you got home? You could have corrected yourself a lot sooner.

Hi Kathy,
First and foremost, you need a tripod for night time photography. It will be best to use manual exposure, rather than AF. Try and also use either a shutter release cable or a remote release. This will also help reduce the chance of camera shake. If you were to have your lens at f1.4/f2.8, you may find you have trouble with your depth of field (DOF) by not getting your shots clear. You would be better using f11 upwards and taking longer exposures, as long as your subject is not moving of course.
Night time photography is a great subject, but you need plenty of practice, so I would advice you to go out (NOT ALONE) and take as many shots as you can, but not taking all your shots with the same settings. Trial and error. Once you find the right settings, you have more or less cracked it. Until the next time it goes wrong! ;) In full manual mode, you are in charge of the camera, whereas, if you use the various settings from your camera, your camera is in charge. Don't get me wrong, these setting can help, but you'll find manual will get you the best results.
Try and join a local camera club, where you'll meet plenty of fellow photographers only too willing to help you with your quest of night time photography. Hope this helps
Stephen

Hi Kathy,
First and foremost, you need a tripod for night time photography. It will be best to use manual exposure, rather than AF. Try and also use either a shutter release cable or a remote release. This will also help reduce the chance of camera shake. If you were to have your lens at f1.4/f2.8, you may find you have trouble with your depth of field (DOF) by not getting your shots clear. You would be better using f11 upwards and taking longer exposures, as long as your subject is not moving of course.

Night time photography is a great subject, but you need plenty of practice, so I would advice you to go out (NOT ALONE) and take as many shots as you can, but not taking all your shots with the same settings. Trial and error. Once you find the right settings, you have more or less cracked it. Until the next time it goes wrong! In full manual mode, you are in charge of the camera, whereas, if you use the various settings from your camera, your camera is in charge. Don't get me wrong, these setting can help, but you'll find manual will get you the best results.

Try and join a local camera club, where you'll meet plenty of fellow photographers only too willing to help you with your quest of night time photography. Hope this helps
Stephen

thank you all for your comments. i did review my shots but just could not figure out what i was doing wrong as i said i am just learning. some of the photos were ok but i know i can do better than that. i have had some brilliant shots with my canon eos. the day time photos were good i just need to stop using auto focus and learn more about aperture and shutter speed but again thank you for your help. one more thing does anybody know of any camera clubs around shrewsbury?
thanks kathy

thank you all for your comments. i did review my shots but just could not figure out what i was doing wrong as i said i am just learning. some of the photos were ok but i know i can do better than that. i have had some brilliant shots with my canon eos. the day time photos were good i just need to stop using auto focus and learn more about aperture and shutter speed but again thank you for your help. one more thing does anybody know of any camera clubs around shrewsbury?
thanks kathy